The Apple Butter Stirrin’ Festival and showcasing historical practices

COSHOCTON, Ohio – The weather was more sunny for the second day of the 55th Annual Apple Butter Stirrin’ Festival. 

The biggest event hosted at the Historic Roscoe Village has one day left to showcase the current village and share the history of that village. Randy Kreuter is a street actor at the festival and part of the Roscoe Village Board. He explained on Friday the kind of history the festival is meant to showcase. 

“…with the festival, we try to recreate things that occurred in the 1800’s and in the Fall, the apples were ripe. They would harvest the apples, and they’d go ahead and make apple butter. Apple butter’s just part of it though, we have the blacksmith shop, we have many different things going on here. But, we try to create a situation [where] people can see things have occurred, the way they occurred in the 1800’s,” Kreuter said. 

Two blacksmiths can be found at the historically preserved smith’s shop. You can even pay to make your own hanging hook using the forge, hammer, and anvil. Kreuter says it’s important to showcase the blacksmiths at the festival because of the role they played in 1800’s Roscoe Village. 

“At that point in time, we didn’t have hardware stores. So, if you need a latch, if you needed a door knob, need nails, you needed a candle holder, anything you needed was made by the blacksmith. They were usually one of the wealthiest people in town because they were in such demand,” Kreuter said. 

The Apple Butter Stirrin’ Festival wraps Sunday with live music, a petting zoo, and nearly 100 different vendors. Admission is $10 per person with children 12 and under getting in for free. You can learn more by visiting the Historic Roscoe Village’s website.